Growing Up
by MrsNickJonasOx
Summary: With an insane best friend and a whore for a mother, Joey has enough on her plate to cope with, without accidentally falling in love...


**Okay, new story. I'm not quite sure where this is going yet but I'll think of something. At the moment, I'm really stressed with physics revision because I have my big exam in November but I just thought I'd take a break from it and write this. It's just an idea; let me know if I should continue it. I really like the relationship between Joey and Ashton, it's the sort I have with my best guy mate.**

**Although I've put this in the High School Musical Category, I don't really want to assign any of my characters with HSM characters. For a start, it gives away all the romantic storylines as everyone knows which characters fit and I don't really want to stick to the HSM personalities. I just picked HSM because it's the sort of story I want to write and you people out there who search specifically for HSM stories are the sort of people I want to target. If that made sense? It probably didn't. Oh well, I know what I mean….**

**Okay, so let me know,**

**Karlie**

**Xx**

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"Anna, I want you to meet my new boyfriend, Jamie."

Oh great another one. God, she's outdone herself this time. He's a kid for God's sake.

"Very nice, now can I go?"

"Joanna Leigh, you will not be rude to my guests."

"You're rude to mine."

I got up and walked out of the room. I hate her. I'll explain. My name is Joey, I'm seventeen, I'm an only child, and my mother is a whore. No, seriously, she's thirty three and has a different boyfriend every week. She works in a bar; I hate to think doing what. And she thinks she's about nineteen. She wears frig all but a bucket of makeup. I seriously wonder what the men she has see in her. The latest one, "Jamie" has got to be about my age, no joke.I'm only really putting up with her till I can get into a college and away from her.

I walked round to Ashton's and let myself in before flopping down in front of his TV and flicking through the channels. A few moments later he appeared in the doorway looking like he'd just been dragged out of bed.

"Morning!" I called in what I hoped was an annoying voice.

He grumbled and sat next to me.

"How did it go?" I asked.

He grumbled some more and covered his face.

"Not well then?"

"Honestly, I made a total idiot of myself. Worst date of my life."

I smiled and cocked my head, "It can't have been that bad. I mean, it's not like you got totally drunk and danced on the tables before calling her obese, getting into a fight with her older brother, calling him a douche bag and then running off like a little girl because you realised he was taller than you…"

Ashton just looked at me.

"That's exactly what happened isn't it?"

He nodded slowly.

"Well, if it helps, she really is obese. Her doctor told her so."

"How is that supposed to help in any way?"

"You're right. You wanna go get McDonald's? Big Macs on me…"

He looked me dead in the eyes before saying, "You are the worst guy friend ever. Guys don't pay to make other guys feel better. They laugh and embarrass them into getting a grip."

"Fine then, I'll go on my own."

I got up, knowing I was to be pulled back down seconds later by Ashton.

"I never said I didn't like your crappy guy qualities."

"That made no sense, and go get dressed."

"Joey… I am dressed."

I looked him up and down.

"Sweats of _that_ colour and a dirty t-shirt do not count as dressed in my books."

"Be right back…" he moaned and wandered into his bedroom, reappearing fifteen minutes later in skinny jeans and cool t-shirt and a beanie.

"There he is. My handsome best friend."

I squeezed his chin like old ladies do to little children and he flinched away.

"It took you long enough though."

"Hey, I am suffering from severe broken heart, and crushed ego, okay?"

I laughed. "You are such a wanker at times."

He brightened up from now, "Hey, don't knock masturbation! It's sex with someone I love."

"Ashton! Do you mind? We are on our way to a place of pigging out; I do not want to feel sick when I get there!"

"You brought the subject up."

"And now I'm taking it down…"

Okay, I love Ashton. Seriously, I love him to bits. We've known each other since we were 2 and half years old, exactly (Yup, our birthdays are on the same day). We've grown up together. He's an awesome guy. We've helped each other through everything. I helped him through his parents' divorce and he helped me through the death of my dad. We are each other's rock and that's the way I like it.

When we got to McDonald's, we ordered six Big Macs between us and got our table in the corner. I looked at the boxes on the table and groaned.

"When I am fat and obese, you _will_ take all of the blame."

He laughed, "You won't get fat and obese. I do remember that time we had a pie eating contest, and we ate like twenty each. I put on about two stone, you dropped five pounds. How the hell does that work?"

I laughed, "True, but I did spend the whole day getting chased by the old man from the bakery seeing as you made me take the blame for all the pies we stole."

"We did not steal them. He said we could help ourselves."

"To one each. Not fifty. I think we took most of his stock."

Ashton shook his head, "Then he should have been more specific."

"And you forgot the amount I threw up after all the running."

He laughed, "Yeah, and we made my dad clean it up."

I nodded, remembering the day.

"Anyways, I bet you can't eat those three before I can eat these three," he challenged, dividing the boxes between us.

"You are kidding?"

He shook his head and opened all the boxes. I did the same.

"One… Two… Three… Go!" And the contest began. It was times like these I totally forgot I was with a boy. I could totally be myself, no holding back whatsoever. And I like to think he felt like that about me too. It was what made us best friends. The fact that we could still love each other, even when I had a gherkin stuck to my cheek.

After we'd both engulfed all three Big Macs, it was time to decide who had won. Me, of course!

"You are the most impressive girl I have ever met."

"Why thank you… And seriously, you need to stop worrying about that Laura girl. There are plenty more fish in the sea."

"Yeah, I know. Sometimes I wonder why I bother. I mean I could just marry you and grow old having contests of different gross talents."

I pretended to act offended, "Is that all I am to you? An opponent?"

He laughed, "Pretty much."

"And here's me telling my subconscious conscious how we're extremely close and each other's rock and how much we love each other."

"Aww, really?"

I nodded

"You know all that's true really, but a guy doesn't admit that sort of thing. Remember? With a guy it's all "That's shit, this is shit, I don't care about nothing', everything's shit!""

I laughed for a while and then Ashton left to get us chocolate milkshakes.

"Do you know how many calories are in these things?"

"See? There you go again, being a girl."

"I can't help being what I am."

We both laughed, "You can try harder to contain the female part of you…"

I got up and grabbed him by his shirt, "Just for that, we're going shopping!"


End file.
